With the advent of the electric guitar and the electric bass guitar (“electric guitars”) came a variety of new components associated with these instruments, as well as a fundamental change in instrument design. Among the many differences between an electric guitar and the acoustic guitar, the most significant are that electric guitars often have a solid body, as opposed to a hollow body, and they utilize electromagnetic sensors that transform the oscillations of the guitar strings into electrical signals that are processed by an amplifier to produce the sound of the guitar. These electromagnetic sensors are called “magnetic pickups,” or “pickups” for short, in the industry. Pickups are located directly beneath the strings on the guitar near where the musician typically plucks or strums the guitar strings. Along with one or more pickups, electric guitars are often equipped with various controls, usually arranged on the front face of the guitar. A tone control potentiometer, volume control potentiometer, and pickup selection switches are among the most prevalent controls on electric guitars.
To accommodate these electrical components on an electric guitar, a cavity is carved out of the solid body of the guitar to create a space for these components. Some electric guitar designs have a cover that is called a “pickguard” to cover the electrical components. The pickguard on some guitar designs, such as the Stratocaster® guitar popularized by Fender® Musical Instruments Corporation, has a dual purpose: the pickguard serves as a protective cover and mounting structure for the pickups and electrical controls, and it also protects the guitar body material from guitar pick impacts that commonly occur during play. To serve this dual purpose, the pickguard is generally made of rigid, inflexible material.
Because the electrical components of the electric guitar serve as the mechanism by which the guitar string oscillation is transformed into amplified sound, they are often a target of experimentation and modification by musicians who wish to alter the sound of the guitar. Because these electrical components are also subject to wear and failure, they are periodically in need of repair. Therefore, pickups and electrical controls are now part of an industry of aftermarket components which are sold to create different sounds from an existing guitar, or as repair parts to replace worn out or broken components. For these reasons, musicians and guitar repair technicians are often in need of accessing the pickups and electrical controls within the guitar body. However, the body style and pickguard designs on some guitars inhibit the quick and easy removal and replacement of these components.
In particular, the Stratocaster®-style guitars have single-panel pickguards that hold both the user controls and the pickups of the electric guitar. Stratocaster®-style pickguards have conventionally been constructed of a single, continuous piece of inflexible material that is mounted by screws to the solid body of the guitar which contains a cavity for these components. The pickups are electrically wired to a pickup switch, which is wired to the volume and tone control potentiometers. The pickups and controls are mounted directly to the pickguard. The volume and tone controls are then wired to an output jack. While this design is very popular, the single panel pickguard design inhibits quick and easy access to the pickups and electrical components. For example, changing pickups or electrical components on the pickguard first requires removing the entire pickguard, which further requires removal of the guitar strings because of the depth of the components and the rigidity of the pickguard material. Removal of the guitar strings takes a significant amount of time because they must be rewound, and then later reinstalled after the pickguard has been replaced.
Furthermore, the wiring between the electrical components attached to the pickguard has conventionally been connected using soldered contacts requiring soldering equipment and skill to be able to remove and replace those electrical components. Because of the heat generated during soldering, those electrical components and other components that are near the heat source are prone to heat degradation. Therefore, musicians who wish to experiment with various electrical components to create different sounds are impeded by these aforementioned difficulties stemming from conventional pickguard designs.
There are several references in the prior art which teach various devices and methods that attempt to improve the ease of access to the electrical components in the single panel pickguards, such as the Stratocaster®-style pickguard that has been described above. One such reference is the docking system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,538,269 B2 (“Docking system for pickups on electric guitars,” Ekstrom), which is incorporated by reference herein. Ekstrom teaches a pickguard system having a slide mount that is directly mounted to the guitar body, and a pickguard assembly that is configured to engage with the slide mount. For removal of the pickguard, the pickguard slides orthogonally away from the strings along the front plane of the guitar. While Ekstrom teaches a Stratocaster®-style guitar design that allows for easy access to the electrical components, it requires that channels be created in the guitar body to allow the electrical components to slide away from the guitar body. This means that musicians must either purchase a guitar having these channels within the guitar body, or that channels be carved into the solid body of their existing electric guitar. Because of the monetary and sentimental value that many musicians have for their guitars, the latter method would be unacceptable.
Another improvement in the prior art is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,253,654 B1 (“Electric stringed instrument with interchangeable pickup assemblies which connect to electronic components fixed within the guitar body,” Mercurio), which is also incorporated by reference herein. Mercurio's disclosure utilizes through-the-body cutouts for the electrical components such that the pickups and controls can be access from the back side of the guitar body, which alleviates the need for removing the strings. However, Mercurio's disclosure has the same disadvantage of Ekstrom's in that the guitar must either be manufactured with the modifications to the guitar body, or an existing guitar be permanently modified by the addition of this cavity.
According at is needed in the industry is an improved method and system for removing the electrical components of electric guitars quickly and easily without having to purchase a guitar that has been manufactured with that capability, or irreversibly modifying the body of an existing guitar. Further, a system that eases the removal and interchangeability of electrical components while requiring less skill and specialized equipment is needed. In particular, an improved method and system is needed for guitars having a single panel pickguard that houses some or all of the electrical components, such as the Stratocaster®-style pickguard.